Debating between D-Link DIR-882 (with DD-WRT) vs Ally Smart WIFI (ALLY-R1900)

[MMM123MMM]

D-Link DIR-882 (with DD-WRT)
https://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wir...-dir-882-ac2600-mu-mimo-wi-fi-router-reviewed

Ally Smart WIFI (ALLY-R1900)
http://www.ampedwireless.com/products/ally.html

I currently run a Cisco ASA5505 with a old Linksys wireless N router (with DD-WRT). Its been giving me trouble and enough reason to buy a new setup. I use VPN service from SurfEasy (for my Macbook Pro, iPhone and iPad only) and I have many IoT, MacOS, and iOS device around my house.

I dont really want to get another Cisco firewall at this point. Expensive and a lot of work to get it running.

The Ally Smart WIFI seems like a nice little router with some degree of security. I am curious how effective the security feature is especially when I use VPN service from SurfEasy, which I am guessing, will make the Ally smart security feature useless (the VPN would encrypt all traffic, rendering Ally smart security feature useless).

The D-Link DIR-882 seems like a good deal (I can get one for $116 CAD tax in) and it seems to support DD-WRT firmware but doesn't support any security feature.

Any suggestions to protect myself? CUJO is another smart security device but is a bit pricey.

Really need help here. Thanks!

 

[Internet Man]

Both devices use the same MediaTek CPU and radios but for some reason the ALLY-R1900 only implements three out of the possible four tx/rx chains and spatial streams offered by the MT7615N radio for 802.11ac. This means that it only supports a maximum theoretical speed of 1300Mbps with 802.11ac on 5GHz while the DIR-882 (and supposedly its DIR-878 clone) both support up to 1733Mbps link rates. Even if your clients don't support all four streams, having the extra tx/rx chain in the router can help performance.

The Amped Wireless ALLY devices are meant to be used as part of a "wireless system" where multiple devices work together to try to improve coverage of a larger area. If you don't need that feature then the DIR-882 is a much better choice. If you can get a DIR-878 for less money, it supposedly will perform identically to the DIR-882 although I haven't seen confirmation from anyone who owns one yet.

I don't really know much about security features embedded in routers but I don't put a lot of value in that.